Artificial turf, also known as synthetic turf, is a surface manufactured from synthetic materials designed to look and perform like natural grass. Artificial turf is commonly used in the athletic industry and is also used in both commercial and residential landscaping applications. Artificial turf may be formed from nylon fibers and/or polyethylene fibers, among others. Some artificial turf surfaces use an infill material between the artificial fibers and are referred to as “infill surfaces.” The infill material is comprised of “resilient” granules, which may be made of, for example, rubber, cryogenically ground rubber, EPDM rubber, cork, polymer beads, polymer foam, styrene, perlite, neoprene, sand, gravel, or granulated plastic, among other materials.
Artificial turf is desirable when the use of natural turf is inconvenient, expensive, or unfeasible. Some climates force athletic teams indoors for training and practice and, depending on the sport, a soft or grass-like surface may be necessary. Professional sports teams may be located in climates that necessitate the use of artificial turf in an indoor stadium.
Systems providing a portable, removable, and storable artificial turf or other secondary flooring surface are beneficial because they allow use of both a primary and secondary flooring surface in a single venue. For example, a secondary flooring surface may be temporarily placed on a gymnasium floor or other primary surface for selected sports and activities and later removed.
At least one existing installation system designed to unroll temporary artificial turf is capable of accommodating only products formed from short pile knitted nylon with a knitted backing that is coarser, yet more durable, than other turfs. This type of existing system was specifically designed for use with short pile knitted nylon type turf and is not capable of deploying turf systems formed from other materials or systems with tall pile heights. Even when used with knitted nylon turf, this type of existing system has drawbacks, such as roll telescoping as it is rolled up or sagging as the roll is rolled out. Moreover, this type of existing system can only be operated at one speed that cannot be controlled. This lack of system control leads to directionality issues and can lead to the turf creasing, tearing, and distorting.
Artificial turf formed from polyethylene fibers has been used because it is relatively softer and taller than traditional nylon products, and can be tufted. Polyethylene artificial turf has a pile height that is about two inches higher than the short and compact traditional nylon artificial turf, which is typically no higher than ½ an inch in height.
Attempts to roll and unroll an artificial turf having tall pile polyethylene fibers using at least one existing installation system result in broken backings, slipping, and bagging that congregates at either end of a roll. For example, the taller polyethylene fibers cause the roll to slip as it is unrolled and rolled. Slippage is undesirable because it can result in damage to the artificial turf. In contrast, nylon artificial turf has more “grip,” because the nylon fibers are not as slippery, allowing a more even roll-up process. Thus, existing systems cannot deploy newer types of artificial turf, such as ones comprised of tall pile, including those comprised of polyethylene fibers and infill systems.
Although some conventional systems are capable of rolling and unrolling taller pile heights, including polyethylene fibers, these systems can only accommodate narrow sections of artificial turf or other secondary flooring on a roll and are pile height dependent, and therefore the artificial turf or other secondary flooring is limited to a narrower width. With these existing systems, the machine moves to roll up and unroll the artificial turf, and the artificial turf remains stationary. Because the turf remains stationary, these conventional systems require lift trucks to transport the rolls. This limits the width of the roll that can be used because these lift trucks cannot handle the weight of a single roll of artificial turf or other secondary flooring or handle a roll if it is too wide.
Thus, these conventional systems can only accommodate narrow rolls, and therefore require many pieces of artificial turf or other secondary flooring to cover an existing primary surface. These pieces are rolled into separate rolls, so a large storage area is required to store all of the numerous rolls of artificial turf or other secondary flooring. When these separate rolls are unrolled, the individual pieces must be seamed together to form the secondary flooring surface. Furthermore, when the rolls are unrolled to lay out the secondary flooring system, these pieces must be installed in the proper order, which is cumbersome and time consuming. Unrolling artificial turf or other secondary flooring with conventional systems is time consuming and can require as much time as an hour or more per roll. Thus, rolling up a secondary flooring surface, such as an athletic field, and storing the rolls could take up to 5-7 hours or more using a conventional system.
Conventional carpet roll up systems are not suitable for use with artificial turf because the tensioning of carpet roll up systems is not appropriate for artificial turf and other types of flooring other than carpet. The conventional method of tensioning carpet cannot be accomplished on artificial turf because the machine cannot accommodate the wide width of turf. If the system is made wide enough to accommodate turf, additional support would be necessary, which would then interfere with the threading process.
Thus, there is a need for a system capable of effectively rolling and unrolling secondary flooring surfaces, such as tall pile artificial turf, including tall pile polyethylene turf, and/or infill systems. There is also a need for a system capable of rolling and unrolling secondary flooring surfaces having a greater roll width and weight. There is also a need for a system that is capable of efficiently rolling up and unrolling a variety of secondary flooring surfaces, including but not limited to, tufted or knitted products, tall or short pile products, rubberized flooring systems, floor coverings, natural sod, infilled and non-infilled products, or any other surface used to cover and/or protect a primary surface. There is further a need to provide a system capable of accommodating multiple types of secondary flooring surfaces in a single venue. These secondary flooring surfaces are not limited to those used in the athletic industry.